Modern stator manufacturing production lines include several different stations at which different manufacturing operations are performed. One such operation that is frequently accomplished at an early stage in the process for manufacturing a 2-pole stator is to assemble stator coil terminals or supports therefor on an unwound stator core. Thereafter, the stator coils are wound on the stator core pole pieces at a stator winding station using magnet wire having an electrically insulating coating. A common practice in use at this time is to temporarily clamp the stator coil lead wires to wire clamps during the winding process. At a later manufacturing stage, the lead wires are connected to the terminals mounted on the stator core at a coil lead terminating station.
One type of stator manufacturing machine, known as a turret winder, such as the machine 50 disclosed in above-mentioned Beakes et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,405, includes a turret by which unwound stators having cores on which terminal members have previously been assembled are moved to a stator winding station at which the stator coils are wound and by which the freshly wound stators are then moved to a lead terminating station at which the stator coil lead wires are connected to the terminal members on the core. Lead pull assemblies at the winding station have wire grippers which are manipulated to place the stator coil lead wires into temporary wire clamps that are moved to the lead terminating station along with the wound stator. Mechanisms at the lead terminating station remove the stator coil lead wires and connect them to stator terminals or terminal support members on the stator core. As known to those familiar with the stator winding art, the same general method is practiced using different types of mechanisms for transporting the stator from the winding station to the coil lead terminating station, such as shown in the above-mentioned Banner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,108.
Most stators are made with the start and finish leads of the stator coils terminated on terminals located at only one axial end of the stator. The axial end of the stator that faces and is nearest the winding head at the winding station and that faces and is nearest the robot at the lead terminating station is referred to in this application, including the appended claims, as the proximal end of the stator. The end of the stator opposite its proximal end is referred to as the distal end of the stator. As explained in the above-mentioned Luciani et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,138, occasions arise when motor manufacturers specify that some of the stator coil leads terminate on the proximal end of the stator and other leads terminate on the distal end of the stator. U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,138 describes a method and an apparatus for connecting coil leads to temporary wire clamps located on both ends of a stator, but the method and apparatus are quite complex, requiring separate sets of temporary wire clamps on both ends of the stator core and mechanisms on both ends of the stator core for aligning and inserting the lead wires into the temporary wire clamps.
FIGS. 6 and 7 of the above-mentioned Santandrea U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,606 show two different machine floor plans enabling coil leads held by temporary wire clamps located adjacent the opposite ends of a stator core to be terminated into terminals on the opposite ends of the core. Two terminating stations are required, with two sets of terminating mechanisms. The stator is held with its longitudinal axis extending horizontally at a first terminating station at which coil lead terminations are made on the proximal end of the stator. The stator is rotated at the second terminating station so that the longitudinal axis of the stator extends vertically and the distal end of the stator is presented at the second terminating station to enable the coil lead terminations to be made on the distal end of the stator.